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It appears that — finally — Georges St. Pierre is returning to the UFC.

After years of rumours and false starts, MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported Wednesday that the Canadian star was on the verge of signing a “new multi-fight contract” with the UFC and could be set to return later in 2017.

Neither the UFC or St. Pierre’s camp commented on the report, but UFC president Dana White had recently told TSN that the company was talking with St. Pierre.

St. Pierre’s return would be a huge boost for the UFC’s new owners, as the company is short on mainstream stars in the absence of both Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey.

St. Pierre would help with that, as he sits on the Mount Rushmore of MMA greats alongside the likes of Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko. The Montrealer has also pulled in huge pay-per-view numbers and is a massive draw in Canadian markets.

St. Pierre hasn’t fought since 2013, when he won a split decision over Johny Hendricks for the welterweight title. He said after the fight that he was taking some time off, and then formally walked away from the sport shortly thereafter.

Last year, the 35-year-old announced he was ready to compete again, although he would later declare himself to be a free agent following what he deemed to be a frustrating set of negotiations with the UFC.

Should be return, there won’t be any shortage of opponents clamouring for a shot at St. Pierre.

Middleweight champion Michael Bisping openly campaigned for a fight against GSP late last year, while the UFC would surely give the Canadian a shot at the welterweight belt that’s held by Tyron Woodley if he asked for a chance to reclaim his spot on the 170-pound throne.

There is, also, the potential of a fight against Silva.

The 41-year-old Brazilian is nowhere near his peak anymore, but a Silva-St. Pierre fight was on top of fight fans’ wishlists for a long time and would no doubt generate massive interest.

For now, it’s wait and see.

BROCK’S A GONER

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Brock Lesnar informed the UFC on Tuesday that he has retired from mixed martial arts.

The former heavyweight champion returned from his first retirement last year for a UFC 200 bout with Mark Hunt, but that all ended up being a bit of a nightmare.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency suspended Lesnar for twice testing positive for a banned substance. Lesnar had been granted an exemption from the four-month testing period that USADA demands fighters go through before entering the octagon.

It’s not as if Lesnar needs MMA in order to cash cheques, either, as his day job as a WWE superstar has made him a very rich man.

HOLY HOLM APPEALING

The biggest shots that Germaine de Randamie landed against Holly Holm in their featherweight title fight last weekend in Brooklyn, N.Y., came after the bell sounded to finish rounds two and three.

Most pundits and fans believed points should have been deducted from de Randamie, and it appears that Holm firmly agrees.

On Wednesday, MMAFighting.com confirmed that Holm had officially filed a complaint against referee Todd Anderson and would be appealing the result.

If the referee had decided to deduct points for de Randamie’s late shots, the fight likely would have been ruled a draw. All three of the final judges’ scorecards, after all, had the fight scored 48-47 for de Randamie, so even a one-point deduction would have meant the fight was scored a draw.

Of course, a draw would open up the possibility of a rematch, and given the collective yawn that greeted the first fight, that’s not something fans are going to be begging for.

AROUND THE OCTAGON

One of the highlights of the week has been watching Texas born-and-raised Derrick Lewis adjust to life in post-blizzard Halifax. Lewis is always one of the funniest, most open fighters on the UFC roster, but the heavyweight seems to be having an especially good time figuring out how to survive in deep-winter Canada this week as he prepares to fight Travis Browne in Sunday’s main event at UFC Fight Night: Halifax. Lewis is worth a follow on Instagram … To be fair, Lewis isn’t alone in finding winter in Halifax a little perplexing. Brazilian Thiago Santos had never seen snow before touching down in Halifax this week. The blizzard has shut down many roads, so good luck to the UFC Canada team trying to keep all the moving pieces in line … Brooklyn’s own Phillipe Nover announced his retirement this week. He went 1-3 in his second UFC stint and got to fight in his hometown for the first time on Saturday when he lost to Rick Glenn.